It can be hard for observers to keep up with the number of announcements and consultations that come out of government, and perhaps it is the same for those working on the inside as well. In May 2003, the then Lord Chancellor's Department issued a consultation paper on whether to reform court dress - you may remember it because there were lots of pretty pictures of the various options under consideration. The closing date for responses was 14 August 2003. Since then, the department's silence on the subject has been deafening, with no summary of responses let alone the vaguest sniff of a decision on the way forward. But then maybe it's been lost in the long grass. How is it, though, that a government which cobbled together its plans for the Constitutional Reform Bill seemingly overnight could dither over this for so long? Is court dress reform so difficult and controversial that it has taken officials two years to work through it? Or do they reckon barristers have been shaken up enough in recent years and deserve a break? Along the same lines, perhaps quietly ditching this is a sop to the bar amid the somewhat more important Clementi reforms that look set to hit it more than most. And what of the increasingly bolshy judiciary? Of course, court dress was Lord Irvine's baby and this may simply be a case of Lord Falconer not wanting to take it on - despite his own desire to ditch the fancy clobber that comes with being Lord Chancellor. A spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs says that at the moment the government is concentrating on other priorities - such as the Constitutional Reform Bill - and the response to the consultation 'will follow at a future stage'. We are not holding our breath.